Georgia tycoon fights Russia tag before election

September 06, 2012|Reuters

* Opposition leader challenging Saakashvili party

* Sells agroholding for $180 mln to U.S. group

* Georgia to hold parliamentary election on Oct.1

TBILISI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Seeking to counter charges thathe is Russia's proxy in Georgia's elections, billionaire BidzinaIvanishvili has sold his last Russian business asset, hismanagement firm said on Thursday.

The once-reclusive tycoon and his Georgia Dream coalitionhave been locked in a bitter fight with incumbent PresidentMikheil Saakashvili, who has called the businessman a Kremlinstooge.

Opinion polls show the coalition lags behind the rulingparty for the election on Oct. 1, but Ivanishvili's politicalplatform has angered the government and shaken up politics inGeorgia, a strategically located Caucasus state of 4.5 million.

Unikor group in a statement said that Ivanishvili, 56, hadsold Stoilenskaya Niva for $180 million to the U.S. ArcoInternational Group and the transaction was expected to becompleted within two month.

Ivanishvili told Reuters in an interview in May he wasexpecting to get $250-$300 million for Stoilenskaya Niva, orapproximately what he had invested.

Earlier this year Ivanishvili sold his real estatedevelopment assets to Russian property group BIN for $982.5million, his Russian bank Rossyisky Credit to a group of privateinvestors for $352 million, as well as a pharmacy chain forapproximately $60 million.

Ivanishvili's holdings in Russia were a third of his totalassets, estimated by Forbes magazine at $6.4 billion.

Ivanishvili and his family have come under state scrutiny ina myriad of cases since he launched his political movement lastyear that managed to unite the usually fractious opposition andmount an unexpectedly strong challenge to Saakashvili.

Ivanishvili has seen some of his assets confiscated and thenreleased after he paid a $49 million fine.

Saakashvili became the West's darling when he rose to powerafter the bloodless "rose revolution" that toppled EduardShevardnadze in 2003. But opponents have since accused him ofcurbing political freedoms and criticised him for leadingGeorgia into a brief, disastrous war with Russia in August 2008.

Georgian forces were routed in five days and Russia went onto recognise breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independentstates.